


The Snowman

by robinwritesallthethings



Series: SFW One-Shots [11]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Holidays, Murder, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:29:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22256461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinwritesallthethings/pseuds/robinwritesallthethings
Summary: When Malcolm hears that Edrisa will be alone for the holidays, he decides to start a new tradition.
Relationships: Malcolm Bright/Edrisa Tanaka
Series: SFW One-Shots [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1925752
Comments: 18
Kudos: 105





	The Snowman

Malcolm stepped out of the car and onto the icy sidewalk, walking carefully so he wouldn’t slip. He navigated through Central Park to the spot Gil had sent to his phone. He knew he was in the right place when he spotted the familiar figure of Edrisa kneeling in the snow beside a snowman.

“Death by melting?” he joked as he came up beside her, digging into his pocket and pulling out a cherry lollipop.

She grinned as she took it from him. “What is this, The Wizard of Oz?” she joked back.

Malcolm shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the strangest case we’ve worked,” he pointed out.

“No, it wouldn’t,” she agreed.

“So where’s the real victim?” Malcolm wondered, glancing around.

He didn’t see any odd shapes in the snow that would indicate a body had been hidden.

“You’re looking at him,” Edrisa said.

She carefully removed the corn cob pipe and carrot nose from the snowman, plucking off the buttons that had been used for eyes, and put each item in a separate evidence bag.

Malcolm laughed. “Okay, what’s the trick?” he asked slowly.

He knew he was out of it sometimes, but not that out of it.

Edrisa grinned again before using a brush to carefully remove the snow that had made up the snowman’s face. Malcolm’s eyebrows lifted and his eyes widened as he saw the frozen face of a man underneath.

“Malcolm Bright, meet John Doe,” she announced, staring at the face. “Body in a snowman. This one is going in my scrapbook.”

“You have a scrapbook?”

“Of course,” Edrisa replied, as if that were a perfectly normal item to own. “It catalogs all of my strangest cases. Sort of a record of my accomplishments, if you will.”

Malcolm smiled as she began to snap pictures. He knew that everyone else thought Edrisa was, well, a little unhinged in kind of a creepy way. He also knew that they were right about the unhinged part, but instead of finding it creepy, he found it endearing. It was the same thing most people thought about him, really.

She rocked back on her heels. “We have to wait for Gil before I go any further,” she explained. Then she turned and looked at him. “I haven’t built a snowman in a long time. It used to be a family tradition.”

“Oh?”

Even though he wasn’t particularly fond of any of his family’s traditions, he was curious about hers.

“Yeah. My dad and I would make it a contest. Whose could be the biggest, or the most elaborate. My mom would be the very not impartial judge. I always won.”

Malcolm laughed as she recounted the memory. “That sounds fun,” he said honestly. “Do you not visit them at Christmas anymore to continue the tradition?”

Edrisa shrugged. “They live in Florida now. I save my vacation time to visit them when we can go to the beach.”

Malcolm nodded. “I can’t say I disagree with that plan.”

For a moment, they both just smiled at each other. Then they heard several car doors slam and turned to see that Gil and the others had arrived. It was time to work the case.

Later, Malcolm found himself still thinking about what Edrisa had said. If she wasn’t visiting family, she would probably be alone for Christmas, and he was going to be alone by choice. Normally, he wasn’t very social, but Edrisa was almost as awkward as he was, which made him far more comfortable around her.

He decided that he’d make some arrangements after work to give her a Christmas surprise.

By the weekend, he was ready. On Friday he popped into the morgue and asked Edrisa to join him back in Central Park on Saturday evening. She blushed and stammered for a moment, but she agreed.

Which was how Malcolm found himself waiting for her in the cold the next evening. He had his coat open in spite of the temperature so she could see the sweater he was wearing.

She waved as she appeared around the corner of the trail, laughing as she spotted the sweater. “You’re on the naughty list, huh?” she quipped, reading the text written across his chest.

“I am,” he confirmed, unfolding a second sweater that he was holding. “And you are on the nice list.”

He helped her pull the sweater over her head. As she fixed her glasses and hair, she asked, “And how do you know I’m nice?”

“Well, I figured that between the two of us, you were nicer than me, at least,” Malcolm explained.

“That may or may not be true,” Edrisa admitted. “So what are we doing?”

“We are going to build a snowman. Together,” he clarified quickly. “I do not want to go against the reigning champion.”

Edrisa twirled as they came to an open spot with plenty of snow. “What’s the matter, Bright? Too chicken?” she teased.

“Yes, as a matter of fact.”

They both laughed as Edrisa stood with her hands on her hips and surveyed the snow. “All right. I’ll show you my patented Tanaka building technique. Guaranteed to result in a snowman that will stand the test of an entire winter.”

“A formidable boast.” Malcolm pulled on his mittens. “All right, I’m ready. Tell me what to do.”

The next few hours were a lesson in careful construction. They rolled tight balls of snow and poured water over the seams to weld them together. They searched for the perfect branches to use for arms. Then Malcolm opened the bag he’d brought and revealed a scarf and hat, a carrot, a corn cob pipe, and two shiny buttons for eyes.

As they decorated the snowman, Edrisa paused for just a moment. “These aren’t the ones that were released from evidence, are they?”

Malcolm chuckled. “No. That would be a little too morbid, even for us, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “And it doesn’t feel appropriate anyway. Such a boring conclusion to a case that started off so promising.”

She sighed as Malcolm stuck the last item, the carrot, into the snowman’s face. He nudged her and winked. “Looks a bit like Gil when he’s angry, doesn’t he?”

They both laughed together again, then Edrisa flopped down in the snow next to the snowman. She spread her arms and legs and started moving them back and forth.

“What are you doing?” Malcolm asked.

“Making a snow angel.” Edrisa stopped and looked at him, one eyebrow raised. “Haven’t you ever made a snow angel?”

“My parents were into, well… other holiday activities,” Malcolm hedged.

His mother had always attended endless charity parties at Christmas, not that that was a bad thing, but it had left her precious little time for her children. And his father, well, that went without saying.

“Get down here and make a snow angel, then,” Edrisa urged him. “It’s good luck.”

“Is it?” Malcom wondered, getting into position beside her.

“Well, that’s what my dad always said. I don’t know if it’s actually true.”

“The word of Mr. Tanaka is good enough for me,” Malcolm decided.

They moved their arms and legs back and forth until they had made two perfect snow angels. Then Malcolm turned his head to Edrisa and asked, “Um, how do we get up without ruining them?”

“Yeah, I didn’t think this through,” Edrisa admitted. “My dad usually grabbed my arms and lifted me up out of mine when I was done.”

They both sat up very slowly, trying not to ruin the outlines of their angels. As they stood up carefully, they tripped out of them and into the snowbank on the other side of the sidewalk.

As Malcolm floundered in the snow, Edrisa made a snowball. As soon as he was up, she threw it at him, hitting him right in the chest.

“Hey!” Malcolm protested. “I can’t believe you would attack a defenseless man.”

“Well, defend yourself, then!” Edrisa replied, throwing another snowball.

They began to run around the park, only stopping to make snowballs and toss them at each other. As they fought playfully, snow began to fall as the sun set, giving the white powder an ethereal glow.

Finally, Malcolm caught up to Edrisa and, finding himself without a snowball, he simply reached forward and grabbed her, tackling her into the snow. She shrieked as they landed in another snowbank, sending a puff of snow up that then filtered back down to cover them.

Malcolm grinned as he looked down at her. Her glasses were crooked and her cheeks were pink from the cold. He’d always thought she was beautiful, but she was even more beautiful right now.

“You look even more beautiful covered in snow,” he found himself saying before he could even think about it.

A small sound escaped her, something between a squeak and a laugh, perhaps. “I’m sort of in love with you,” she responded.

Then her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth as she realized what she’d said.

But Malcolm just shook his head and leaned down until his lips were hovering just above hers. “I can work with that,” he promised, then kissed her.

Edrisa decided to take what she could get in the moment. She twined her arms around his neck and kissed him back eagerly.

Malcolm only pulled back for a moment to say, “I don’t remember the last time I truly enjoyed Christmas.”

“Then shut up and enjoy it, Bright,” Edrisa huffed.

Malcolm smiled and kissed her again. He certainly intended to enjoy this Christmas to the fullest.


End file.
